


Operation

by larrytrainor (arthureverest)



Category: Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 16:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18528709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arthureverest/pseuds/larrytrainor
Summary: Cliff and Larry have some stuff to figure out.





	Operation

It was funny, the ways they could communicate. 

One of them had a voice constantly muffled by cotton bandages. One of them had a voice reconstructed from an old recording.

They didn't talk to each other at first, but the more they did the more comfortable they found it. Comfort they found in that one of them couldn't be endangered and the other couldn't burn (on account of being made of metal). 

So they both needed therapy. So they both had issues dealing with their problems. So neither of them could fuck. That didn't mean a romance couldn't blossom. 

One afternoon, they were playing chess. 

I'm kidding. That's awfully cliché. 

One afternoon, they were playing Operation. But because one of them couldn't go near the machine without it beeping uncontrollably from the energy he put off, and the other had little to no remaining hand-eye coordination, they were actually talking about the game Operation. With the box in the other room. 

Cliff actually managed to make Larry giggle by miming himself trying to play the game Operation. 

Cliff sighed (Larry didn't know he could sigh?) a loving, appreciative sigh. 

Larry finished his fit of laughter with, “Oh, John.” 

Cliff paused. “John?”

“What?”

“You called me John? Is this how I find out you're cheating on me or something?” 

“Cheating on you? What does that imply?” 

“Who's John?”

“My ex, it doesn't matter.” 

“So I wasn't wrong about the vibe.”

“What vibe!”

But before Cliff could answer, Larry collapsed. 

He moved him to the couch, thinking he might be more comfortable there than doubled over a coffee table. 

“I don't really know what to do in this situation.” Cliff said as Larry… slept? was unconscious? 

“I think we need to talk about some stuff, but I want you to know that I'm ok with it.”

He wasn't sure if that helped, or if Larry could hear him, or if any of that mattered.

He continued. “‘It’ being exploring a relationship, whatever that would look like.”

He continued again. “More than ok with it.” 

Lovely. 

The Negative Spirit returned to Larry's body, and he woke up feeling something he hadn't in a while. 

Was it worth saying something, doing something? he didn't know.

Cliff stayed kneeling next to the couch. Larry stayed sitting up halfway, his bandaged face close to Cliff's. Neither of them had the self-esteem required to make the next move. Neither of them had the bield to just let themselves be loved. 

Hammerhead walked by. “God can you two just get a fucking room already?” She left. 

Larry broke an unseen smile. “I think we've got some stuff to figure out first.”


End file.
